Black & Veatch Content Marketing - The Journey of a Global Enterprise

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DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT, GLOBAL MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONSTIM THORPE

CONTENT MARKETINGTHE JOURNEY OF A GLOBAL ENTERPRISE

@timnthorpe

WE’RE BUILDING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE. TOGETHER.

• Founded in 1915.• Global workforce of more than 10,000. • Employee-owned corporation.• $3.6 billion in annual revenues in 2013.• More than 110 offices worldwide.• Projects completed in more than 100 countries

Black & Veatch conducts 7,000+ active projects globally at any one time. 2

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SOLVING THE WORLD’S COMPLEX CHALLENGES IN EACH OF OUR MARKETS

Using teamwork and collaboration, we provide sustainable and reliable solutions.

Energy Water Telecommunications

Security Management Consulting Environmental

Indonesia Hong Kong SAR California, USA

Armenia Oklahoma, USA Scotland, UK

BLACK & VEATCH DIGITAL CONTENT TEAM

• Websites (bv.com).• SEO/SEM.• Marketing automation.• Surveys.• Social media.• Microsoft Dynamics CRM (SFA).• Microsoft SharePoint intranet.• Mobile marketing apps (iPad).

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 4

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WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING?

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• Creating perception.• A content strategy that focuses marketing efforts

on what your desired clients are interested in consuming – strategy to address their needs.

• Developing content that educates your desired clients about their business needs or goals, the services you provide in that market and why they should pick you.

• Distributing content into channels where your desired clients are consuming information.

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WHAT CONTENT MARKETING IS NOT

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

Wang Noi Combined Cycle Power PlantThailand

• Pumping out more and more content (focus should be on quality, not just quantity).

• Specific channels.• Advertising.• Your business.• POINT: It is about your consumers and how you

support their needs!

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CULTURE

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• Any change in how content is produced and distributed within a large organization starts with culture.

• Implementing a content marketing strategy is likely about transforming your organization, its internal processes and how people think.

• What is leadership’s opinion of how marketing should be done?

• Push the organization to move forward more quickly, but don’t get out ahead of the organization.

• Do you have a good understanding of your company’s current culture?

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TRANSFORMING CULTURE

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

Water Supplies Department of the Hong Kong SAR

• Evaluate where you are, the destination and in the process, how things would change.

• Has to be done objectively and in a constructive way.

• Must show the business a compelling vision for how the change will provide lasting benefits.

• Executive leadership support is critical.• Technology strategies, plans and budgets.

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MOVING TO DIGITAL

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• Significant mind shift for many traditional content producers.

• Part of cultural view of marketing and content.• If producing more content for digital spaces, need

to evaluate if it’s the right material. Is it produced for the right reasons?

• Does the content address client business objectives?

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WEB STRATEGY/CMS

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• Relaunch of BV.com based on Sitefinity CMS.• CMS helps to automate and template content.• Improves ability to create content requirements.• Can move quickly to apply changes.• The foundation for many content amplification

efforts.• “Homebase” for all digital, external marketing

efforts (we strive to direct people to bv.com in everything we do).

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SEO/SEM FOCUS

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• Content marketing + SEO (not versus).• Focus on relevant “hilltops.”• Not just content…also technical framework.• SEO/SEM needs to become a core part of how

teams think.• Cultural or career shift for many.• Can be valuable to bring SEO skillset in-house to

make it a central component of content strategy.

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ALIGNMENT WITH BUSINESS STRATEGY/GOALS

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• Produce four industry reports that focus on our primary markets – Strategic Directions.

• Research the topics that are important to our clients and our businesses.

• Analyze the results of our surveys and collaborate with internal thought leaders to make recommendations and forecasts.

• Promote reports and supplemental content via owned, earned and bought media channels.

• http://bv.com/reports

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CONTENT PILLARS - STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS REPORTS

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• Our reports are examples of content pillars that are used extensively to educate clients, promote our brand and sell our services.

• Report messaging is broken down into videos, social media messages, newsletters and articles that offer snippets of research and recommendations from each report.

• PR/media team leverages existing relationships to amplify the messages.

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AMPLIFYING WITH CONTENT DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• Social media.• Prime/trade media partnerships.• Industry outreach through influencers, bloggers

and associations.• Paid media channels (SEM, advertorials).• Tradeshows, conferences and other industry

events.

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CONTENT CALENDAR

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• Designed to help synchronize “siloed” groups of content editors/contributors, externally and internally.

• Built-in workflows and processes to ensure all aspects of content development are addressed.

• Provides a process-oriented approach for helping overcome cultural resistance to new approaches of content creation.

• Could simply be a spreadsheet to start.

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SALES ENABLEMENT

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

Lopburi 55 MW Solar FarmThailand

• Ultimate goal is to connect marketing activity with business development.

• Knowing your core clients and creating a single view of them is very important.

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides the single view business development activity.

• Marketo is being implemented to provide sophisticated tools for marketing automation.

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TOOLS & INTEGRATIONS

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

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PARTNERSHIPS

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

• You can’t do it all.• Many elements of implementing a content

marketing strategy may exceed the experience of your teams or available resources.

• Leverage partners to assist with selecting tools, developing content and implementing solutions.

• Evaluate what should be an internal employee vs. an external resource.

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TEAMS

• Executive leadership support.• Right people in right roles (may need a different

skillset in some roles).• Refining the marketing and communications

structure internal to your organization.• Hiring people with digital experience, systems

backgrounds, database understanding, project management skills and other technical abilities.

• Recruiting team members with an agency background can be valuable.

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

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FUTURE OF CONTENT MARKETING

• Employee engagement as internal brand advocates.• Expert blogging.• Automation.• Dynamic content (real-time personalization).• More and more video.• Micro-content.

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• “Adapt or die” - Content marketing is a test of the organization’s mettle to accept change and adapt.

• Integrations.• Tools and automation (free and paid).• Partnerships and expertise – what is done in-house

vs. outsourced based on need, importance, ability to hire, etc.

• Leadership buy-in.• Internal structure, process, workflow is critical.

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

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CONNECT WITH US

• TimThorpe.org• slideshare.net/TimThorpe• @TimNThorpe• BV.com• @Black_Veatch• facebook.com/BlackVeatch

@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe

www.bv.com